Rory's G'day From Oz

04/30/2004

G'day from Oz.

Having left my bike with the secutrity guard of a BP complex 2 years ago, with a farewell comment that I'd return in 3 months to collect it, I had no Idea what to expect. Soon Mong - the manager of the complex had been very reasuring that everything was fine and although I had never met him, he offered to collect me from my hostel. Well two years ago the trip finished in style with the deputy high Commisioner throwing a drinks party for us, free singapore slings at Raffles and many other wonderful experiences. Now, two years on it seemed to be continueing when, to the minor surprise of other backpackers and myself, a big black shiny 4wd Lexus pulled up outside the hostel and I was invited to excuse myself from the 35 deg sauna of the hostel veranda. Soon was great, we quickly dispenced with all the Monsoon jokes surrounding his name and went for a lovely Japanese meal in a restuarant on a hill near the Singapore bird sanctuary but - aptly I suppose - overlooking the Singapore Refinery.

The bike and 4 panniers were fine, I pumped the tires up, said a prolonged thanks to the guards who had lived with my bike in their stock room and rode away. I had compleatly forgotton the Single malt and other british gifts I had stashed in my rucsack for Mr Mong as a thankyou. Soon dropped by the next day to pick them up and we had another long chat where I gained a much deeper insight into how Singapore functions with all the rather diverse oriental cultutres all living together. He himself had gained this by speaking seemingly all the languages of Asia with English being his first language and a splattering of french just for good measure. Anyway - an enormous thankyou to Lim Soon Mong.

I was only in Singapore for two nights but was much better at filling my days than packing my bags so when I started to sort through the nostalgic (and somewhat whiffy) contents of my bags I was shocked to find a disintegrated paper bag full of broken Chinese fireworks. Now coating the inside of your bags with gunpowder may be considered dumb. Doing it hours before getting on a plane, well nuff said. To add to my worries the stove I had to carry whiffed of Petrol and no amount of cleaning would take the smell away. Anticipating real problems with the security "sniffer" machines I decided to get to the airport 4 hours before the flight so if necessary my bags could be compleatly picked apart. I had arranged double baggage allowance (64Kg) but this meant I was only allowed 2 bags so unpacking everthing would mean opening bags containing bags with more bags inside of those and for the fuel bottles which had contained petrol, 3 more layers of plastic bags taped tight with gaffer tape. Hence my 4 hours to check in. The security guards were great, they watched with interest while I dismantled the bike sorted bags and gaffer taped anything that could move or split. After the xray they totally overlooked poking their sniffer probe into my bags and I very gratefully headed to the departure lounge for a shower.

I've been in Darwin for a week now, aclimitising to the heat, not too humid but the midday sun is very strong. I rode for three hours without a T-Shirt or suncream and while not really getting burnt I was severly scolded by the pharmasist when I asked what all the fuss was about. I now posess Zinc cream, factor 40 cream, a factor 40 long sleeve shirt and an "Arafat Hat"! Cycling's not so unusual here. The concept of walkabout is common and doing a rideabout is just as acceptable. The main advise I get over and over is "be careful of the road trains" - the 55m long, 18 axle lorries that take 200 meters to stop. Some even carry spikes on the front so the dead roos and cows aren't left on the road. One traveller I met had seen 7 camels which had been killed by one truck with only minor damage to the truck. At the Road Kill Cafe " You kill it, we grill it", I asked whether they did cyclist, but they wouldn't comment. I head off in the morning, hopefully half an hour before sunrise. A few days of sightseeing in the local national parks before heading south proper with up to 20 litres of water, into a really horrible (up to 35 knott) unwavering headwind. So you'll hear from me on the road south. Its 1491 Km to Alice Springs.

Love to All

Rory _ _ ______________________________________________________ _ _

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